CUs POSE CHALLENGE TO STATE UNIVERSITIES: VOHRA

‘Need To Curb Faculty Poaching, Respect Merit, Ensure Quality’

GK NEWS NETWORK

KU AWARD FUNCTIONSrinagar, May 26: Governor NN Vohra on Wednesday said the establishment of two central universities in Jammu and Kashmir poses direct challenge to the existing universities in the state.Addressing a “Special Award Function” at the University of Kashmir, Vohra said; “The two central universities are going to pose a challenge to the state varsities. The poaching and luring of faculty is going to take place. So these are the issues which need to be addressed.”Vohra, also the chancellor of Kashmir and Jammu Universities, said the faculty poaching by the central universities was not a healthy sign for the state universities. “We need to have enough qualified and trained corpus of knowledge in the form of scholars, scientists and teachers who can be evenly distributed in these institutions so that none of them suffers,” he told a gathering of academics, officials and students at the Kashmir University’s Convocation Complex.Kashmir University is among very few universities to have been accredited with A-grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).The governor asserted that the universities and colleges in the state must be the ‘centres of excellence’ if students were to compete globally. “If our students have to compete at the regional, national or global levels, our educational institutions like the state universities and colleges have to be the centres of excellence. That is the only way we can ensure participation of our students in the global competition.”Vohra said competition in education at the global level was very serious. “If our students have to compete in this stiff competition, they not only have to be good, but excellent. If our students are excellent, needless to say that the faculty has to be amongst the best. And if the faculty is the best, the institution itself conveys it is excellent,” he said.The Special Award Function was organized by the Directorate of Internal Quality Assurance (DIQA) to honour best performers (2007-08) among the teaching departments, faculty members and support services.“It is important we encourage quality education and research and reach to the highest standards of education,” Vohra said.He said in the past, lot of emphasis was laid on quality education. “10 to 15 years after our independence, there was a mushroom growth of educational institutions in India. The states were supposed to play their role in controlling this trend, but they couldn’t do that. The central authorities could not control this. And over the years, we have seen commercialization of education, sale of degrees etc. which are the matters of concern in the present scenario,” Vohra said.He said the institutions cannot claim excellence unless the pursuit of excellence continuous. “Monitoring of the system has to be on day-to-day basis. We ought to encourage meritocracy so that nobody tells us that we don’t respect knowledge and merit,” Vohra said and added that it was better if politics was kept out of academics. “Earlier we were in a great hurry to introduce politics in the institutions of learning,” he said.He urged the state universities to gear up to meet the challenges posed by the central universities.The KU vice-chancellor, Prof Riyaz Punjabi, asserted that the University was ready for re-accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. “A great expansion has taken place in the field of higher education, particularly vis-à-vis science and technology. With this, a great need was felt to have a monitoring mechanism where you assess the contributions to institutions by its faculty members, scientists and scholars. In this regard the University Grants Commission established NAAC, and we at the University, set up the DIQA,” he said and asserted that the university was committed to provide quality education and research facilities to students.Prof Punjabi expressed concern over the KU’s inability to admit all the candidates who appear for post-graduate entrance examinations. “We need to have some sort of a mechanism where we are able to provide higher education to aspirants in the far-off places. The policy makers and the government have to think about it,” he said.The NAAC adviser, Prof Shamsundran, called for optimal utilization of infrastructural facilities, generating resources and maintaining better internal communication in the universities and colleges. “I am happy to see that KU is among the very few universities to have implemented the NAAC recommendations,” he said.He said the state government must explore the possibility of getting some colleges accredited with the autonomous status for more funding.The Dean, Academic Affairs, Prof A R Yousuf presented the academic overview of the university on the occasion while the DIQA director, Prof Mushtaq Qureshi, gave an overview of the activities carried out by the directorate. The KU Registrar, Prof S Fayyaz Ahmad presented the vote of thanks.Earlier the Chancellor, awarded certificates of merit and appreciation among the departments/centers, faculty members and support service wings. Certificates of merit for their exceptional contribution to respective fields were awarded to Prof Hamidi Kashmiri (Urdu); Prof Rehman Rahi (Kashmiri); Prof Shafi Shouq (Kashmiri), Prof Nazir Ahmad Malik (Urdu); Prof Rais Akhtar (Panel on Climate change).Certificates of appreciation for encouraging track record of students’ placement were presented to departments namely Computer Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Business and Financial Studies, and the Business School. Biotechnology, Botany, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Zoology and Biochemistry departments bagged the certificates of merit. On behalf of department of computer sciences, the award was received by Prof Mushtaq A Peer, chairman, Board of Professional Entrance Examination.The certificates of appreciation were presented to the departments and research centres namely Centre of Research for Development, Persian, Centre for Central Asian Studies, Geography and Regional Development, Geology and Geophysics, Shah-e-Hamdan Institute of Islamic Studies and Urdu.The faculty members awarded as best performers included Prof Aziz-ul-Azeem (Mathematics): Prof GH Dar (Botany): Prof Farooq Ahmad (Physics); Prof K I Andrabi (Biotechnology); Dr Javed A Sheikh (Physics); Prof Nissar Ahmad Rather (Mathematics), Prof Zaffar A Reshi (Botany), Dr G M Rather (Chemistry), Dr Shakeel Ramsho (Geology and Geophysics), Dr Ehtisham ul Haq (Biotechnology), Dr Firdous A Khanday (Biotechnology) and Dr Aijaz Ahmad Dar (Chemistry).The support service centers awarded were Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMMRC), Examination and Evaluation System, Allama Iqbal Library, University Science Instrumentation Centre, Directorate of Lifelong Learning, Directorate of Distance Education (DDE), Directorate of IT and SS and Academic Staff College. ). Shafqat Habib of EMMRC was awarded for “productive programmes in sports and health”.Dr Shahid Rasool received the award on behalf of EMMRC while Dr Shafeeqa Parveen received the award on behalf of the DDE.

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